Global Warming Causes Animals To Shrink; Study Says It Happened In The Past And May Happen Again This Time

(Photo : Slate Magazine/YouTube Screenshot) Animals shrank in the past because of global warming. Scientists are worried that this phenomenon may happen in the present times again.

Animals shrank in the past because of global warming. Scientists are worried that this phenomenon may happen in the present times again.

According to a report, warm-blooded animals shrank twice in the ancient past because of global warming. A new study indicates that when carbon dioxide levels go up and temperature goes high could shrink animals. Abigail D'Ambrosia, a researcher at the University of New Hampshire shared that mammals in the present times may shrink faster in the future. This may be caused by man-made warming and is something that humans need to watch out for.

There were three animals that shrank significantly 54 million years ago. This happened when the temperature of the Earth soared high. The one animal that got smaller was the early compact horse. It went down to 14 percent smaller. The said horse weighed 17 pounds to 14.6 pounds in the past years. This has been according to a study of fossil teeth.

Additionally, a lemur-like animal shrank of up to 4 percent as the years went by. These animals that shrank have been due to the atmosphere's warming. It is indicated that heat and shrinking have been connected after all these years. The researchers of the recent study hope to find out how the current global warming can affect animals during these times. The scientists of the study are unclear as to why a significant shrinking of certain animals can be possible. The CO2 in plants may have been the cause of the animals to shrink significantly.

Meanwhile, as the atmosphere becomes warmer, the animals may shrink because it is easy to cool off when the body size is smaller. Recently, global warming is significant for the Earth. This may have a prominent change in animal size as the years move forward.

The shrinking of animals that happened years before may be repeated with the current global warming of the Earth.